LF urges minister to ensure timely panchayat poll in Bengal

The opposition Left Front in West Bengal today urged state Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee to ensure panchayat polls were held on time without prolonging the legal battle with the State Election Commission and avoid constitutional crisis.
"If the state's panchayat election is not held on time, it will create a constitutional crisis. Such a situation is not at all desirable," Senior CPI(M) leader and former Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Anisur Rahaman said.
Rahaman headed a delegation of the LF today which submitted a letter to Mukherjee in support of their appeal and urged the minister to take all necessary steps to complete the pending panchayat election process on time.

Describing the three-tier panchayati raj system as "a strong decentralised administration set-up having sanction of our constitution", Rahaman said "Rural development in the state can't be thought of without panchayat system and for this we need timely panchayat election."
Such a situation had never cropped up during the 34-year long LF rule and the panchayat election was held seven times during their tenure on a regular basis without any disruption, Rahaman said.
In another appeal, Rahaman also asked Mukherjee to take the MLAs in confidence while implementing the central project 'Adhikar' under BRGF (Backward Region Grant Fund).
"Opinion of people's representative should be taken in the interest of people instead of giving the entire responsibility to bureaucrats and officials," Rahaman added.